Since returning from the All -Star Break a week ago, the Sox have played 7 games–and have won 2, one in each series. They have not scored more than 4 runs in any contest since then. They are currently 7 games behind the Skanks in the AL East, and 4.5 games behind Tampa Bay in the Wild Card with 67 games to play, including 10 more with the Skanks and 6 more with Tampa Bay…

I think VERY close to being in a heap of trouble…

I don’t think the wheels of the bus have come off yet, but the lug nuts really need to be tightened, so can we get on that, pronto, that would be super….And can someone save me a spot on the Tobin Bridge, just in case? Great. Thanks…

OK, moving on.

That Clay Person came back last night, and was rustier than a garden gate. And everything went wrong on this one: A wild pitch, a BALK (2nd one in as many nights–Ramon S had one the night before), only going 4 innings (yeah, FOUR), throwing 87 pitches, 56 for strikes, giving up 5 runs on 6 hits (including 2 homers–including 1 to Matt Watson–his 1st in his major league career) while walking 3 and striking out 2… YUK…

Welcome Back Jed Lowrie! Do you want the good news or the bad? OK, Good new 1st, Jed spelled a weary Marco Scutaro, and went 1-2 with 2 walks, and scored the 1st run of the game. And then the bad news: Promptly made his 1st error of the season in the 4th…Ryan Shealey was DFA’ed to make room for Jed…

We all knew it was going to happen–in anticipation of Jeremy Hermida’s activation for tonight’s contest, Daniel Nava has been sent back to Pawtucket. Daniel weighs in on his 29 games in the bigs: “It’s been a great experience. I’ve got some stuff I’ve got to work on. I’ll go back there and try to focus on stuff, try and work on that stuff and be ready for another opportunity…I mean, I knew that I was covering for guys that were injured. I knew it was going to happen at some point. That’s why I just went day by day. I was totally aware that could be happening at any point — and it did.” He hit .286 with THE Grand Slam and 16 RBI’s during his tenure…

Finally, Jerry Remy just signed a long term contract to continue his work with DO as the NESN color guy, a job he has held for the last 23 years. Specifics of the contract have not been released, but Jerry describes it as “…“I’ll be around a while…There will be a time where it all comes to an end, but I don’t know when that’s going to be. It’s not any time in the near future, that’s for sure.” And just in time as well. Rem-Dawg will call his 3,000th game this Sunday afternoon in Seattle…

Coming up: The midnight games continue, with 4 in Seattle–and lo and behold, there is a 3rd non-middle of the night game–on Sunday–but other than that–this whole series starts at 10. Tonight, John Lackey takes the mound and will hopefully kick off a 10-20 game winning streak (hey, I can dream, can’t I?), opposed by lefty Ryan Rowland-Smith–who has a 1-9 record–which means he’ll probably throw a no hitter…1st pitch, 10:05pm…

There IS once nice thing about later games–it gives me a chance to do things around the house, or relax, or run errands, and even play online blackjack if the mood strikes me. Of course, I don’t actually ever get to see the end of one of these games, as I generally fall asleep about 4-5 innings in–but the way they have been playing, that’s not necessarily a bad thing…